


A Second beginning

by KillJoys



Series: Missmatch [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Genderbend, Slice of Life, Yuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-17 18:10:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2318621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillJoys/pseuds/KillJoys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After getting to know each other, Naruto realised she and Sasuke haven't even been on a date yet!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. This will be easy

“Sheesh” Shikamaru sighed and pried open another pistachio, popping the green salty nut into her mouth as she leaned back from her counter. It had been easy for her to get the job at the new Cinemas though it irked her when the manager Asuma asked her why she was going for such a slow paced job. “Why do people always end up running to me for advice with their personal problems? I got my own stuff troubling me Naruto. What a pain.”

Naruto continued to flick the empty shells around between them and a few clattered to the sticky popcorn covered floor. Naruto's own attempts at securing part-time work during their break had been utter failure. The fact was people just didn’t hire those kinds of temporary workers anymore, let alone kids with little to no experience. “But you’re so good at it Shika, and I know you wouldn’t laugh at me. Please do me this little favour? I’ll do anything.” She said ducking her head so only her large pleading blue eyes peeked over the counter.

“How the hell am I supposed to know what Sasuke likes to do for dates? The most I’ve talked to her was when we had a group project together and even then she didn’t actually talk to me, just sent me emails. It was pretty convenient actually.”

“Ahhh, that doesn’t help at all!” Naruto groaned and mussed her hair in frustration.

It had been almost three months since Naruto had confessed to Sasuke and they had yet to actually go out on a date together, though they did spend many hours outside of school just the two of them, it was ninety-percent of the time Naruto being tutored by Sasuke if not walking to and from one another’s houses. It was beginning to get Naruto down, though her grades had vastly improved and Iruka sensei had been so impressed she had bought her young student a giant frog plushie and coupons for their favourite ramen restaurant.

But Naruto still felt things weren’t moving forward in the way she had hoped.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself what she likes? Would it be that hard?”

“hmm no… but I want our first proper date to be something really special. And it’s not special if you know about it.”

Shikamaru stared blankly for a while and then began sweeping up the shells and threw them in a dustbin. “Just think about what you already know and observe what she tends to like and dislike. It should be simple after all this time.”

“Hey yeah! Okay, this will be easy. Thanks buddy! See you round then!” The blonde replied, happily as she skipped out of the cinema until she realised that she had no idea what Sasuke liked!!! _I’m a horrible at noticing things! What am I going to do?_

_~_

As Sasuke walked up to her front door, a strange feeling of dread passed through her like icy water dripping down her spine. The feeling continued when she pushed the key through the lock with a slight tremble of her hand only to find it was already unlocked. Her breathing became unsteady and she fought to calm it with her fingers on the door knob as she struggled to supress a memory. Almost running into her kitchen she was shocked to find the person she had least expected.

“What are you doing here and how the hell did you find out where I live?” Sasuke asked, dumping her messenger bag and jacket in the doorway.

The white-haired woman spun around and swallowed the rest of Sasuke’s onigiri she had planned to save for dinner, her sharp teeth gnashing. “Still rude as ever sassy-uke. What’s wrong with wanting to check out the new digs of my little sis?”

“I’m not your bloody sister Suigetsu. Get the hell out before I make you.” Stomping over to check just how much food remained in her meagre stores. _Damn it she ate all my rice balls._ “I hope no one else knows where I live?” Sasuke knew her true meaning would be read in that question.

“Hmm, no I didn’t tell anyone. Not the big daddy or that red-head stalker. And just so you know Juugo really missed you when you left. Like she had a few break-downs that everyone knows you could have stopped if you were there.”

Sasuke refused to let any hint of her guilt slip out and her poker face remained as she grabbed a drink of ice-coffee and sat down at her large dining table, sipping it slowly.

“Not even going to offer me a drink Sassy? Not for your big sis?” Suigetsu huffed at the silence and continued her story; Sasuke hadn’t walked out so it must have meant she actually did care. “Big daddy was pissed that you left, but it’s not like he could fuckin’ do a thing ‘bout it since he had no idea where you went. Kimimaro was sent all ‘round the fuckin’ country-side lookin’ for your hot ass. But look who gets the fuckin’ prize. HAHAHA.”  Suigetsu spat rice as she laughed and lent back on the kitchen counter with her arms crossing her chest.

“If you tell them, I’ll kill you.” Sasuke told her in a calm-as-ever voice that made you think she was telling you your horoscope.

“Yikes, like I would ever cross you Sassy. I really don’t give a fuck about those idiots, and you got a nice set up here, too big for just one am I right?”

A few minutes went by as Sasuke pondered the question. She _did_ miss them, a little. But there was absolutely no fucking way she was ever going back to that creep and his druggie pimp house. Honestly Sasuke was amazed Orochimaru had gone for so long fostering kids without getting done in, though it wouldn’t surprise her if he had rats in all manner of government positions to be paid off for any whim.

For the three years Sasuke had lived in that place. she had been worked hard selling drugs and weapons that she knew those weren’t the only things that she would be selling if she stayed much longer and one night she slammed a chair into the back of that snakes head and fucked off like her life depended on it.

“You want out too huh?”

“You bet I fuckin’ do.” Suigetsu slammed her fist against wood “I don’t wanna die in that shit-hole.”

“Are you absolutely sure there is no way anyone can find out about this place?”

“No fuckin’ way. I couldn’t even tell Juugo what I was planning. She seriously loves Kim, I couldn’t ask her to come. She’s gonna die in that place, I swear.”

Sasuke slowly stood and wondered if she could ever tell Naruto about these things. Would her only friend hate her? Be disgusted at the thought of her? She couldn’t risk letting Naruto find out those things. It would be too much. The old her screamed inside her head that it was no good, letting another person in would only mean getting hurt. But she wasn’t about to abandon the person in-front of her. Perhaps Naruto was having a greater effect on Sasuke than she wanted to admit.

“You can stay.”

 ~

Naruto woke the next day with a bubble of determination encapsulating her being and her lips stretched into a wide smile. First she sent Sasuke a quick text good morning and then pried herself from her warm bed to make herself breakfast while bopping to the hits from her radio. By the time she was dressed and ready to walk out the door her cheeks ached but her joy refused to wane.

“Ramen, ramen, raamen~” Naruto chanted; heals kicking up and hips swaying through the alleys between the stacked up apartments, skipping over spilled trash and the splayed legs of the unconscious leftovers from the club around the corner. Naruto remembered the old lady Jiraya had been known to frequent that particular establishment; attempting to pick up young men. _Muses_ she called them. Models for the woman’s vast array of risqué paintings and statues planted around her gardens which welcomed unaware travellers into the artist’s humble workspace, along with various strongly worded complaints.

For a moment she considered asking the baba-yaga for advice on her little problem, but realised that unless she was willing to go all the way to become some enchantress and completely seduce Sasuke in every physical way conceivable, -a thought which had Naruto grinning even wider if that were possible- the result would be a little off target to her blushingly-romantic intentions, though she absentmindedly wondered if Sasuke had ever thought about those things.

_Chocolate? No, no sweets, flowers? Maybe… Books? Or a trip to the onsen? No no… actually the onsen sounds like fun! But not really a romantic…_

“oof” the grunt came when Naruto bumped harshly into the front of someone and a clatter of objects scattered between them. A pale as a ghost hand steadied Naruto who muttered an apology and bent to help pick up the ink bottle and brushes.

“Oh, Sai! I didn’t see you there.”

Sai was still as strange as ever with her thin smile and soft voice like a tiger waiting quietly to pounce. “That’s fine. You seem to have been thinking very deeply.”

Naruto _had_ been a little distracted which brought her back the subject, “say sai, do you go on a lot of dates? Like, doing things you like to do?”

Sai looked a little lost, “things I like?” her eyes wandered for a moment “I suppose so. I do a lot of that.”

Naruto was shocked, “Really? But… you seem so… well not the type of person to go out with a lot of different people.”

“Oh no I don’t mean that. I do a lot of things I like to do by myself, is that what you meant?”

“Not exactly, what do you do by yourself?”

Sai raised an eyebrow “why do you want to know?”

Naruto blushed and gave a nervous laugh, “ahh well, ya’ know I just wanted to find out because it might help me with something that I was thinking about…” she slowly trailed off hoping that Sai wouldn’t ask anything more, it was too embarrassing! She could deal with people ignoring her, teasing her, or laughing at her because they didn’t really know her, but if someone found something out about Naruto that was true and laughed at her _that_ would really hurt.

Thankfully Sai wasn’t one for prying. “I paint and read books.”

 _Well that was no help at all._ “okay, let’s say there is someone you like a lot, and they like you too, and you want to show them how much you like them? What would you do?” Shikamaru had said to find out what Sasuke liked, but really, _what does Sasuke even like?_

“Don’t people usually give gifts? I read in a book that giving someone something you made is best because you put effort into making it, although another book said that expensive things are better. And there was one to say you should never give a gift because the other person will feel obliged to give one equal to it.” Naruto's face fell causing Sai to end her statement and wonder if Naruto was feeling unwell.

Wasn’t this difficult enough already? “That sounds way too complicated, Sai. I’ll think about it. Thanks anyway.” Sai nodded and watched for a while; the girl with the long blond pigtails swaying while she walked away.  


	2. I've got an Idea

It was a short walk up to Iruka’s place as the woman was, like Naruto, attracted to the lively inner populace of Konoha and favoured her small apartment which sat in the midst of a densely populated café strip, to a larger more suburban house on a quiet road. Knocking on the door Naruto heard a crash and stomping feet and a vague yell from inside. But after a few moments there was nothing.

“Sensei? It’s me! Iruukaaaaa senseeeii!” Naruto pressed her ear to the door which suddenly slammed open to show a hastily dressed woman with dark olive skin and short black sleep-ruffled hair, clutching her navy blue dressing gown.

“Good morning Naruto” she said with a slight grimace “bit early isn’t it?”

“Is it? Sorry I just really wanted to see you sensei.” Naruto grinned.

“You don’t look sorry at all you brat. Come on then. Are you thirsty?” Naruto joyfully stepped into Iruka’s home, it was nostalgic every time she came here and placed her shoes on the little bamboo rack next to another pair of boots. It was hard not to smile when she heard the familiar creaking of the floorboards and stepped into the kitchen to sit at the breakfast bar. This room alone was at least twice the size of Naruto's hovel and the floor seemed to shine where Naruto's was barely seen. The white marble bench tops were polished and a few scented candles and indoor plants decorated the various surfaces. A glass table which was coated with paperwork and a laptop was the only thing Naruto would have even considered calling untidy.

A warmed up mug of milk was placed in front of Naruto and she beamed at her teacher in thanks, gulping the drink down before the woman could say a word.

“I’m still amazed you can drink that so quickly.” Iruka chuckled and leant over with her chin in her hand.

“Delicious. Why does the milk always taste better at your place sensei?” Naruto hummed.

“It’s just milk” the woman replied, shrugging. “Say, have you been doing your as-“

Naruto pushed her hands up in-front of her “no, no, don’t ask me that. It’s the break sensei! Don’t ask me about that.”

“I have to ask Naruto, it’s my job. But I guess I don’t need to _now_ do I?”

“That’s not true; Sasuke’s been helping me a lot to catch up with things. Actually it seems like all we ever do.”

Iruka gave Naruto a quizzical look and moved to refill her kettle, switching on her stove with her hand as she moved past. “And that’s a bad thing? What’s wrong with doing your school work?”

“Sensei, you’ve got to be kidding me, don’t you remember being in high school? Don’t even try to tell me you never played around with your friends.” Naruto quickly slammed her palms down on the bench top with a sudden thought “wait, you had friends right?”

The hair on the back of her neck stood up as Iruka felt years of repressed memories flood to the surface. Her face flushed with embarrassment and was glad she’d had her back turned “y-Yes I had many, many friends.”

“I thought so, you’re a nice person so who wouldn’t like you Sensei. By the way, is there someone…” Naruto pushed aside her embarrassment for the moment and decided to simply come out with it. “Is there any one that you like Sensei?”

Iruka almost dropped the tea-cups she was holding and felt a cold sweat come over her, “what are you talking about Naruto? What’s with the interrogation here?”

“ahh, well… there is someone that I really like… they aren’t the happiest sort of person, and actually they piss me off a lot too, but I’ve never felt like this about anyone before and sometimes it hurts so bad I feel like I’m gonna explode!” She stretched out her arms to punctuate her statement, hoping Iruka would be able to read her feelings accurately. “but the thing is, even though they said they like me too, I really want to show them how I feel, and I want to take them out on a date but I have no idea what she would think is fun or boring or anything.”

Calmly considering Naruto's declaration, Iruka wondered where that rowdy little kid had gone. “Isn’t the best thing to just be yourself with this person?”

Naruto raised an eyebrow and leaned in “what do you mean?” she whispered.

“Well,” Iruka leaned in as well and lowered her volume a fraction “show them things that make you happy, and you can learn from that what makes them happy.”

“R- really sensei?”

“Yeah, why not? When you’re with someone you like, isn’t learning things about them and seeing them happy the best thing?”

Naruto frowned “But what if this person is never happy? Or they don’t really have an interest in anything?”

Iruka paused and suddenly a realisation hit her, making her eyes go wide with surprise, which then scrunched up into a playful smile. _So that’s how it is, Naruto you moron. Sasuke certainly has_ one _interest._ “Just do what I told you Naruto and everything will work out. I’m telling you. Now I really have a lot of work to finish, why don’t you go and finish your holiday homework?” Iruka reassured Naruto and began herding the girl back through her small foyer.

Naruto purposely took her time lacing up her shoes, then hugged her Sensei good-bye and wandered out the door. Iruka waved as she went and found herself unable to stop smiling.

“Are we alone again?” Kakashi’s silver head poked out from the end of the hall, her wild spiky hair was just as unkempt whether she’s just woken up or was going out, a fact that irked everyone but herself. “Oh what’s with that look, huh? Come back to bed already.”

“I suddenly feel very old.” Iruka told her, but still couldn’t remove her smile.

~

An annoying vibration startled Sasuke awake, she really didn’t get how Naruto could wake up so damn lively every day; _how the hell is she so perky in the morning?_ Sasuke gave a short reply knowing if she didn’t she would most-likely continue to receive worried texts from then on every ten minutes. Almost immediately after sending and snuggling her head back into the softness of her duck feather pillow did another vibration cause her brows to draw together in frustration. Where was Naruto's concept of too damn early??

- _oh gr8, ur awake! Ill b ovr l8r tonight \\(=^ w ^=)/-_

Sasuke grimaced at the text-speak. Sometimes she wondered how someone who’d lived alone for so long could still be so childish; it was almost fascinating to Sasuke. She didn’t bother yelling at the girl for inviting herself over since she’d been doing it so frequently lately, Naruto was very good at making things like that seem to be the most natural thing in the world and it was easy to slip into the comfortable air that surrounded Naruto wherever she went. Sasuke had been relaxing so much that a when a spluttering laughter burst out nearby, she bolted up, her legs tangled in sheets, stumbled and fell out of bed.

Suigetsu continued to chuckle at her, leaning casually on the open door-frame with her ripped skinny jeans and skin-tight tank top clinging so snugly they were almost like a second skin on the girl.

“Oh boy, I have never seen you look like this before Sasuke, who was texting you? You finally get your grumpy arse a Girlfriend?”

“I thought I locked my door.” Sasuke gruffly countered, choosing to forego her answer and rose from her awkward position while straightening up her clothes which consisted of a ratty blue t-shirt alerting the reader that “cat’s don’t give a fuck” and black denim pants that were only slightly too big; she reached into a drawer and pulled out her belt, sliding it through the belt hoops without really paying mind to the direction of the buckle. She’d lost the habit of wearing pyjamas a long time ago and only made an effort to change when she wanted to avoid wrinkling her uniform. She admitted it wasn’t the most hygienic habit but when there was a chance of being woken in the middle of the night with a knife at your throat, hygiene hadn’t really been a factor. “I hate when my sleep is disturbed.”

“You did, and I remember that at least, but I’m so damn curious.” Suigetsu sniggered.

Sasuke strode past Suigetsu silently, realising that she wasn’t regretting last night’s decision half as much as she’d thought she would by morning. This fact stunned her a little. Dust motes greeted her as she stepped into her kitchen-dining room and made her sneeze.  After all this time, domestic stuff just hadn’t been something she’d been able to pick up with any measure of enthusiasm and the large house was still vastly untouched by the living, apart from those with six or more legs.

Opening up a food cupboard and shuffling a hand between a few empty cereal boxes, Sasuke pulled out one she recalled should still have a small amount left, though when she tipped it over her bowl, only wheat dust spilled out in a distasteful clump, which received a nasty glare.

“Whoops, my bad Sasuke. You didn’t want to eat that did you?” Suigetsu sauntered into the room to see the dark expression on the girl’s face, it had only been one day and Suigetsu was already having a ball.

Sasuke didn’t bother to chastise her new house-mate and rather reached for the bread-bin, only to be confronted by another empty disappointment. “Did you eat the last slices of my bread too?”

“Nah that shit was stale, threw it out.”

“hmph.” As she gazed out her kitchen window upon the carved cliffs of Konoha, Sasuke felt her blood pressure increasing. “Suigetsu, are you trying to get on my nerves?”

“You make it sound hard Sassy.” Suigetsu moved up behind her and placed an index finger to Sasuke’s temple, to which the younger girl relayed a sideways glare. “You know this is why you never make any friends, you’re such a social reject.”

“Glad… Did you really find me to escape from that place or was your real motive to get under my skin?”

Suigetsu pouted, which soon turned into a toothy grin “Yeah because hanging out with you in your nasty old house is just how I imagined my life. I got things I wanna do ya know. But don’t you worry little sis, you won’t be lonely anymore.” She punctuated her sentence by ruffling Sasuke’s long black hair until her wrist was snatched in a bruising grip.

Sasuke’s mobile buzzed in her back pocket and she subtly pulled it out and read the text from Naruto;

_\- Pretty sure 2 of our teachers r banging, just saw Kaka-sensei’s shoes @ Iruka’s place. LOL (=^w^=)-_

A corner of Sasuke’s mouth twitched upward and an amusing thought came to mind as she slid her mobile away, released Suigetsu's arm, turned and lifted herself gracefully to sit on the bench-top with her legs crossed.

“I just got an Idea.” This made Suigetsu raise an eyebrow at the younger girl who, after being “missing” for over a year, looked just as sly as the last time they’d hung out. It was something that entranced Suigetsu and a few of the others from Orochimaru’s place. Sasuke tilted her head down and turned sideways to peer at Suigetsu, her long black hair streaming over to partially cover her face in a way that reminded Suigetsu of a horror movie she’d seen once and she felt her toes twitching from excitement to hear what Sasuke was about to say.

“Suigetsu, shall we make a bet?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took sooo long. I am really not well at the moment. please forgive me :(
> 
> As always thank you for reading and please (I'm begging you lurkers!!) leave a comment. It would help me more than you can imagine.
> 
> ~Killjoys


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